New schools for lumad children of Sitio Kiskis and Sitio Lamintao, Barangay Siagao, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur are underway as the tribal councils, community volunteers, Kalahi-CIDSS Caraga staffs, local government and education officials recently conducted a ground breaking and lay-outing ceremony on February 6, 2017 at the sites where the schools will be built. Sitio Kiskis is expected to receive a one unit-three classroom primary school building with an estimated cost of Php2,390,001. Sitio Lamintao on the other hand, will soon have a one unit-two classroom primary school building with an estimated cost of Php1,601,274.

The community felt the need of an additional school building because their existing school buildings which were made from indigenous materials are already worn-out and unreliable. Their municipal tribal chieftain, Datu Alinghian, was among the representatives of the Indigenous People (IP) in Surigao del Sur who voiced out and sought the help of the national government to address their needs. The national government in turn, with its intensive efforts to address the needs and concerns of lumad communities, allocated a substantial budget for the construction of lumad schools which will be implemented under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan- Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services’ (Kalahi-CIDSS’) Classroom Construction for Lumads (CCL) program in partnership with Department of Education (DepEd), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).